[Ads-l] Postliminary

W Brewer brewerwa at GMAIL.COM
Thu Dec 11 00:03:00 UTC 2014


Tell the Judge that in the Roman Empire, door-to-door referred to a
man's home, not the boss's sweat shop. In my judgement.
Postliminy < Latin _postliminium_ <<a return behind one's threshold
[li:men], i. e. to one's home; hence, a return to one's old condition
and former privileges, the right to return home and resume one's
former rank and privileges, the right of recovery, reprisal>>
(Ammianus Marcellinus, Rerum Gestarum, 4th c. AD; Lewis & Short's
Latin dictionary online.)
     Probbly di'in't apply to overtime for blue-collar plebeians,
though. Not much has changed. 8^(

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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